Fine protested having the bobcat taken from her. She told Murray she went door-to-door to her neighbors gathering signatures on a petition asking that she be allowed to keep Rocky. She said she couldn't understand why he wouldn't give her an opportunity to hire an attorney before seizing her pet.

Murray cited Fine's "continuous inability to restrain this animal." He agreed to a brief adjournment of the case to give Fine time to hire an attorney. But the adjournment had a caveat:

"Rocky is to be gone in the interim," Murray told her. "The community has had enough. The neighbors have had enough."

Fine, turned and walked out of the courtroom, muttering the words, "You suck," on the way out.

DNA tests

Rocky gained notoriety after breaking out of his pen in March and remaining on the lam for 12 days. After the feline was lured back to Fine's house in April, it was seized by animal control officers and brought to the Popcorn Park Zoo, which is run by the Associated Humane Societies. Rocky was kept at the zoo while Fine faced a charge of letting the pet get loose, in violation of an agreement she signed in October after another escapade in which Rocky went on the lam.

While Rocky was at the zoo, Murray ordered a DNA test on the animal after representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife brought him suspicions that Rocky was pure bobcat rather than a hybrid of bobcat and Maine coon cat, as Fine had claimed.

Fine pleaded guilty on May 16 to the charge stemming from the March escape. She was fined $1,000, but she also was allowed to take Rocky home from the zoo because the DNA test proved inconclusive. If it had proven the feline to be pure bobcat, the animal would have been seized unless Fine was able to get special permits from the DEP that are reserved only for zoos, animal exhibitors, for scientific purposes and agencies that own exotic animals for advertising, acting or theatrical purposes.

In allowing Fine to take Rocky home, Murray ordered her to keep Rocky in a proper enclosure that would be subject to periodic inspections by the DEP. Fine at that time said she had the enclosure built, and she vowed to never let the declawed feline get loose again.

Escaped again – and again

But Rocky broke out of its enclosure on May 31 and roamed away to a neighbor's property before Fine recaptured him, according to police Capt. Tom Dellane. At that point, she was issued a summons charging her with again letting the bobcat get loose.